Jim Bradley Misso Wen Ping and a friend hatched an elaborate plan to trick a property agent, who tried to sell a Rolex watch online to help him buy a home with his fiancee.

PHOTO: Charmaine Ng

SINGAPORE - A student used sleight of hand to swop a $30,000 Rolex watch with a $500 fake - but ended up doing time.

On Wednesday (Aug 8), Misso was sentenced to 14 weeks' jail after he pleaded guilty to one count of criminal breach of trust and one count of voluntarily causing hurt.

A court heard how 21-year-old Jim Bradley Misso Wen Ping and a friend hatched an elaborate plan to trick property agent Thomas Tong Guo Xian, who tried to sell the timepiece online to help him buy a home with his fiancee.

Mr Tong, 29, had the watch valued at $29,500 before he put it up for sale on Carousell, where his advert was spotted by Misso's friend Joshua Chua Yong Cheng on Nov 30 last year.

Chua, 24, went to view the watch at Mr Tong's home on Jan 13 but could not afford it, so he and Misso came up with a plan to steal it.

Chua bought a fake replica of the watch on Carousell for about $500 and gave it to Misso.

Misso fixed an appointment with Mr Tong to view his Rolex on Jan 22, at the void deck of Block 3D Upper Boon Keng Road.

That day, Chua also contacted Mr Tong and asked to meet him for dinner under the guise of discussing buying the Rolex. Mr Tong agreed, and arranged for his fiancee Nicole Chan Hui Shan, 30, to meet Misso instead of him.

The couple were not aware that Chua and Misso knew each other, the court heard.

At about 5.30pm, Ms Chan met Misso at the void deck and handed the watch to him so he could inspect it.

As he pretended to check the illumination of the genuine watch under the table, he shielded it from Ms Chan's view and swopped it with the fake which he gave to Ms Chan, before leaving with the real one.

Misso later handed the Rolex to Chua who put it in a paper bag and gave it to a friend Alissa Tay Su Ying, 24, for safekeeping.

When Mr Tong returned home from dinner with Chua that same day, he checked his watch and noticed a discrepancy in the colour and serial number, then realised that it had been swopped with a fake replica. He lodged a police report.